During the war we lost everything.We even lost our honor.
says Umm Hiba , an Iraqi women in Damuscus and daughter of a teenage daughter who dances at nightclubs and is a prostitute. It is the story of many such Iraqi women who were forced to flee to neighbouring Syria after the men in their family were either killed or kidnapped. Bereft of jobs and armed militia knocking at their doors, they had no other option. In Syria the question of sheer survival drove them to the somewhat lucrative and the oldest profession of the world.
These women find work at casinos or openingly solicit clients on the steets. A favourite is the Maraba part of the road from Damuscus to the famous convent at Saidnaya.
Syria though committed to help, seems overwhelmed by the Iraqi exodus. According to the United Nations commissioner for refugees they number 1.2 million. Syria just does not have the necessary infrastructure to deal with such numbers.
Cheaply available Iraqi prostitutes have made the flesh trade here a big business luring Arabs from neighbouring countries. Most visitors are from Saudi Arabia, just a six hour drive through Jordan.
